1
andycleff
SmartMail Alpha Feedback and Sponsorship Needed
  • 2006/9/29 13:37

  • andycleff

  • Not too shy to talk

  • Posts: 108

  • Since: 2005/4/29


SmartFactory is developing a XOOPS module for creating and publishing e-newsletters. And we'd like some feedback on it.

Read more about SmartMail and download the alpha from here.

Make sure you review the readme included with the download. It contains important info about the module, including where to post bug reports and feature requests.

And while SmartMail is already pretty cool in its current incarnation - it is fully integrated with XOOPS permissions, talks to the membership module, has flexible page layout, and best of all it can automatically pull content from any other module block - frankly, we could also use more sponsors.

More sponsors = means more features and quicker development.

So far SmartMail has been made possible by the sponsorship of Ampersand Design, Inc, INBOX Solutions, American Killfish Association, Crispin Moorey and Jereco Marketing.

So please download the alpha, take it for a spin. If you like what it can do, help us continue with the project.

Thanks!
Andy Cleff
Ampersand Design, Inc
Doylestown, PA
-----
Helping our clients bring great ideas into shape through integrated marketing, creative branding, print and web strategy, online learning and e-commerce.

http://www.ampersandesign.net

2
tom
Re: SmartMail Alpha Feedback and Sponsorship Needed
  • 2006/9/29 15:26

  • tom

  • Friend of XOOPS

  • Posts: 1359

  • Since: 2002/9/21


I've not tested the module yet, but I'll have a look at it.

The reason for my post, if you used something like Xproject module, people can see feature requests and what the target donation is to get a feature implemented, this can work, and if there is something I would want incorporated fast I would donate as I have done with other projects on a few occasions.

Just a thought

3
tom
Re: SmartMail Alpha Feedback and Sponsorship Needed
  • 2006/9/29 15:30

  • tom

  • Friend of XOOPS

  • Posts: 1359

  • Since: 2002/9/21


On another note, again this maybe in there although I not tested it yet.

one issue I have with the XOOPS mail system is with thousands and thousands of users, some managed servers and hosting companies restrict the amount that can be sent, often resulting in a 500 internal error if it reaches critical mass, there for an option like Xmail has, whereby you can set how many mails to send at once would be cool.

4
andycleff
Re: SmartMail Alpha Feedback and Sponsorship Needed
  • 2006/9/29 15:52

  • andycleff

  • Not too shy to talk

  • Posts: 108

  • Since: 2005/4/29


SmartMail will include its own Mail Sender Service Interface - separate from XOOPs' mail handling for precisely that reason.

The plan is to have both batch size and pause duration settings to accomodate shared hosting environments.

So for example, admin could set the MSSI to send 100 messages, wait 60 seconds and repeat until all 10,000 messages have been sent.

Plus SmartMail will be flexible enough to allow admin to use just about any installed mail service on a dedicated server,

----

We have feature request tracking set up on dev.xoops.org.

However, I think it would be tough at this point to assign a specific cost to a specific feature.

We have a lot of general development work to do and I feel it would be better to contribute to "the pot" to get SmartMail to full RC status.
Andy Cleff
Ampersand Design, Inc
Doylestown, PA
-----
Helping our clients bring great ideas into shape through integrated marketing, creative branding, print and web strategy, online learning and e-commerce.

http://www.ampersandesign.net

5
Mithrandir
Re: SmartMail Alpha Feedback and Sponsorship Needed

We use the dev.xoops.org project trackers for reporting inwards and xProject on smartfactory.ca for reporting outwards - however, I'm not sure it has been opened to the public, it may have to do with access permissions as we don't want feature requests and bug reports in xProject (it should show what WE think should be there - not (necessarily) everything that is suggested)

In regards to limiting the sending, we work on a throttle mechanism in the actual mail sender, where a maximum number of mails sent per hour can be configured as well as how many in a batch/job.

This is meant to come in the first release.

Our goal is to have a central mailer API that can replace the XOOPS built-in (that "just" uses PHP's mail function or an SMTP server directly) for sending out any mails through XOOPS.
It would also open up for a better notification method where submitting a forum post does not potentially send out hundreds of emails, thus lagging the submissal process and making the user think that it hasn't been submitted.

This will come at a later point.
"When you can flatten entire cities at a whim, a tendency towards quiet reflection and seeing-things-from-the-other-fellow's-point-of-view is seldom necessary."

Cusix Software

6
tom
Re: SmartMail Alpha Feedback and Sponsorship Needed
  • 2006/9/29 16:15

  • tom

  • Friend of XOOPS

  • Posts: 1359

  • Since: 2002/9/21


Thanks for the info guys.

Quote:
However, I think it would be tough at this point to assign a specific cost to a specific feature.

We have a lot of general development work to do and I feel it would be better to contribute to "the pot" to get SmartMail to full RC status.


I understand your point here, however if I was to contribute, donate or sponsor as I'm sure others would also, want a degree of say in what they want to see added. If I was to give money and then a ton of this things where added that I don't need and nothing I do, then it wouldn't benefit at all.

If there was a similar system to contribute funds, then at least I could be putting my money towards something I want to see.

At the moment Xmail is suffeient enough for me, however this project seems very exciting and something which for me may replace Xmail at some point in the future (for me that is).

7
andycleff
Re: SmartMail Alpha Feedback and Sponsorship Needed
  • 2006/9/29 16:46

  • andycleff

  • Not too shy to talk

  • Posts: 108

  • Since: 2005/4/29


Xmail does what it does very well.

SmartMail attempts to do something different - the ability to incorporate blocks from other modules makes it very useful.

In addition, automatic dispatching on a predetermined schedule - like every wednesday - is also cool.

I encourage you to download the alpha and play around with it.
Andy Cleff
Ampersand Design, Inc
Doylestown, PA
-----
Helping our clients bring great ideas into shape through integrated marketing, creative branding, print and web strategy, online learning and e-commerce.

http://www.ampersandesign.net

8
tom
Re: SmartMail Alpha Feedback and Sponsorship Needed
  • 2006/9/29 17:24

  • tom

  • Friend of XOOPS

  • Posts: 1359

  • Since: 2002/9/21


ohh I will try it, already downloaded, will prob try later, I'm pretty sure anything developed by smartfactory will be quality.

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